A PAEDOPHILE has been jailed for ten years for a string of sex crimes including the rape of a child.

Tony Monery, 56, a sales representative, now of Swanfield Drive, Chichester, was sentenced to a total of ten years imprisonment at Brighton Crown Court on Friday.

He was convicted after a four-day trial of a series of sexual assaults in Worthing, spanning three years, on a young girl he knew.

He was convicted of seven counts of indecent assault, one attempted rape and one rape between 1999 and 2001 on the girl who was aged between 12 and 15 at the time. 

Monery will be a registered sex offender for life. 

Detective constable Graham Gray of the West Sussex Safeguarding Investigations Unit said: "Monery gained the confidence of this young girl and systematically abused her for three years.

"Only in 2014 did she feel able to come forward and tell us what had happened to her."

Monery made no comment in interview and pleaded not guilty throughout.

The victim had to face cross-examination in court.

The victim said: "The reason I came forward after so long is that he showed no remorse and I believe he needed to know he was in the wrong and I deserved justice.

"Now he has been found guilty I feel a great sense of relief and I can finally move forward with my life."